Personal accessories, such as hair clips, barrettes, annular elastic hair ties, and various items of jewelry are most commonly stored in a drawer or tray, where they are likely to become entangled or mislaid. Additionally, items like hair clips or earrings, which a wearer might use in pairs or as multiple items, become separated from matching items when stored loosely. This requires time consuming searching for the match for a particular item. Also, items such as the above often have sharp projections that can injure a person rifling through a messy drawer, or pose an unseen hazard to the feet when inadvertently dropped to the floor. Small, loose, scattered objects pose a risk to children and pets that may ingest them. As these types of items are frequently stored in bathrooms, the small object may pose retrieval or drain clogging dangers if they fall into a sink or become unhygienically contaminated upon falling onto a bathroom floor or into other appliances.
Various devices have attempted to deal with aspects of these problems, although none as reasonably and effectively as the instant invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,758 to Gonzalez is typical of those devices which utilize a hanging braid type device to hold items. The braid may tend to swing away from the user attempting to mount items, possibly requiring the use of two hands to affix or release items. Additionally, the braid, being of a soft and absorbent material, is inherently more difficult to clean than the instant invention. Elastic items, such as annular elastic hair ties, cannot be easily fastened to a braid, and must be stored, in the '758 device, in bins, thus decreasing the utility of the display feature. Similar problems affect other braid like display devices, such as those of U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,685 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,806.
Rigid or semi-rigid accessory holders have different problems, as can be illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,503. This single pole accessory holder has a small base and would be top-heavy, making it unsuitable for use as a free standing unit, as it is, in fact, designed to be hung from a hook. Accessories such as hair clips and annular elastic hair ties may be mixed on top of and below other items on the holder, leading to the possibility of knocking various items off of the display when attempting to retrieve others. Additionally, elastic items such as annular elastic hair ties are held in a partially stretched position, such that, over time, storage on such a device lo will tend to fatigue the elastic members upon which these annular ties depend for their functioning.
Accordingly, the art has needed a means for improving the art of accessory storage. While some of the prior art devices attempted to improve the state of the art of accessory storage, none has achieved the unique and novel configurations and capabilities of the present invention. The present invention makes many improvements over the current state of the art. First, the plurality of grippable surfaces makes it easy and convenient to store a wide range of items. Second, paired or multiple items may be easily stored in proximity to each other. The grippable surfaces themselves are easily cleaned. In some embodiments, the accessory holder is enclosed, preventing accumulation of dust upon the stored items. Additionally, the present invention may accommodate widely varying sizes of clips without causing fatigue to the spring and elastic elements. With these capabilities taken into consideration, the instant invention addresses many of the shortcomings of the prior art and offers significant benefits heretofore unavailable. Further, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.